


Taking the Blame

by nychus



Series: Growing Up Citadel [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Baby!Ignis, Baby!Noctis, Fluff, Gen, Ignis Fluff Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 04:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12976353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nychus/pseuds/nychus
Summary: It doesn't take much to convince the adults it's Ignis's fault.





	Taking the Blame

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 for Ignis Fluff Week. Getting into trouble

Smooth marble floors and clean socks were a great way to pass the time as Noctis figured out one evening. Ever since he’d made this magical discovery, he’d only wanted to slide about. He begged Ignis to join him and after one too many near run-ins with people in the hallway, Ignis found them a relatively empty room to play.

They had a lot of fun with the sliding. They’d race or see who could slide the farthest or hold each other’s hands and spin as fast as they could. Eventually Ignis grew tired and settled himself along the wall while Noctis continued to play.

When they had first found the room, Ignis made sure that the prince promised to stay well away from the inside wall. There were a few vases and artifacts lined up against it and it wouldn’t do to have one of them break. The artifacts looked interesting, so after a moment, Ignis went over to inspect them. He couldn’t see much as most were situated high on plinths that his little legs couldn’t get up to, but they were still fun to look at.

That was until there was a sudden yelp and the sound of shattering porcelain.

“Are you alright?!” Ignis asked, running to Noctis and nearly sliding into him. He managed to stop himself before barreling into the prince, but to keep from falling over, he placed his hand on one of the porcelain shards and cut his palm.

Ignis barely had a chance to register the pain when the room was suddenly full of servants and guards alike. There was really very little doubt as to who the child’s yelp could belong to and so everyone wanted to be sure the prince was fine.

“Prince Noctis! Ignis! Are you alright? What happened?” Marguerite, Noctis’s main nurse, asked as she ran over to them.

“I’m fine,” Noctis sniffled. He looked absolutely miserable. Ignis could guess what the punishment would be. As the prince had only recently gotten over a nasty illness, the little adviser was sure Noctis wouldn’t take well to being grounded and thus stuck in his room all day.

Ignis looked at his bleeding palm, which Marguerite noticed. “Ignis, you’re bleeding.” She instantly took his hand to inspect it. “We’ll need to clean this. Would you like to tell me what happened?”

“We were playing,” Ignis said. That was easy enough to tell but he spoke his next words carefully; he didn’t want to lie, but he wanted to make sure the blame fell on him and only him. “I wanted a break, so I came to look at the artifacts along the wall. I guess the floor was more slippery than I thought, and, well…”

She tsked with a shake of her head and ushered the boys out of the room. “Ignis, I thought you would know better,” she said. He answered with a half-hearted shrug. Noctis looked like he was about to say something and Ignis was quick to shake his head at him. No, he hoped the movement said. No, let me do this for you.

His plea was apparently understood as another nurse came to take Noctis away while Marguerite stopped in a bathroom to grab a first aid kit to clean and bandage the wound. She then took him straight to his uncle and let the boy explain what had happened.

Stupeo grounded Ignis for a week. This meant that he wasn’t allowed to see Noctis at all and if he wasn’t in classes he would be studying in the room across from Stupeo’s office. He would also have to do a few extra chores around the apartment.

This felt fair. Ignis got the brunt of the punishment, but Noctis was also being punished in that his only playmate wasn’t around. At least Noctis was still allowed out and about. The poor thing had been miserable with his illness and was gaining cabin fever. Now he could still go to the gardens if he wished or anywhere else.

The third day of his groundedness, Ignis was working on homework when he saw someone enter the room out of the corner of his eye. Glancing up, he was surprised to see King Regis walking over to him.

“Your Majesty,” Ignis said, quickly standing so that he could bow.

“Ignis, sit, please,” Regis chuckled as he pulled out one of the nearby chairs and also sat.

Ignis had no idea what Regis could possibly want. Maybe to increase the punishment after figuring out exactly how priceless that vase surely was.

“Why did you say you broke the vase?” Regis asked.

He sighed. Noctis felt guilty enough to tell his father what happened. He should have realized the prince with a heart of gold wouldn’t do well with the guilt. Somehow Ignis would make it up to him.

“I didn’t,” Ignis answered. A cocked eyebrow told the boy that this was not what Noctis had said. “I never specified who broke the vase, just that the floor was very slippery.”

That earned Ignis a fond smile and a shake of the head. “But you made sure the blame was on you when it was Noctis that actually knocked it over. Why?”

“I should have been watching him more carefully,” Ignis said. “He only came over there because it’s where I was. If I hadn’t taken my eyes off of him I could have told him to slow down. Advise him to not go so fast.”

“Ignis, you don’t have to take the blame for something my son does. He needs to learn from his actions and you need to allow him to do that. It’s how he’ll learn. It’s how we all learn.”

“I also didn’t want him to be cooped up in his room again,” Ignis said quietly. “I hoped my not being able to play with him would be punishment enough.”

“Oh, Ignis. You’re too good for him,” Regis said warmly. Ignis blushed. “But allow him to own up to his mistakes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Regis stood and started heading for the door before turning to look at the boy again. “Though, I suppose there is a lesson to be learned here as well. Noctis was in tears last night when he told me it was all his fault. He will probably think twice before allowing someone else to take the fall from now on.”

Ignis had no response, so he just continued to watch Regis. The king seemed lost in thought for a moment before bidding farewell and leaving Ignis to contemplate the conversation he’d just had. There was a lot to learn about being an adviser, Ignis decided. More than he had originally thought.

The first day Ignis was allowed to see Noctis again, the young prince was waiting for him at the end of the hall, bouncing on his toes in anticipation. As soon as the pair saw each other, Noctis ran and threw his arms around Ignis in the tightest hug and with promises of never letting go.


End file.
